Virtual Affordance Sales Tool

1. A system for designing a space affordance layout to meet user preferences, the system comprising: a virtual affordance database storing a separate affordance dataset for each of a plurality of different affordance types that can be added to a virtual world (VR) representation of a space layout, each affordance dataset including at least a subset of non-appearance characteristics that affect how non-appearance conditions within the space layout are experienced at different locations within the a VW representation of the space layout; a VW representation database specifying locations of instances of at least a subset of the virtual affordance types from the virtual affordance database within the VW representation; an interface including at least one emissive surface and an input device; at least a first system processor linked to the emissive surface, the databases and the input device, the processor programmed to perform the steps of: (i) using the non-appearance characteristics of the affordance instances and locations of those instances within the VW representation to assess values for at least a subset of the non-appearance conditions at locations within the VW representation, wherein each value represents how an associated non-appearance condition would be experienced at an associated one of the VW representation locations; (ii) presenting a VW representation of the space layout on the emissive surface including representations of each of the affordance instances within the VW representation; (iii) receiving input via the input device selecting a location within the VW representation presented via the emissive surface; (iv) based on the selected location, identifying the values for at least a subset of the non-appearance conditions within the space layout; and (v) presenting a dashboard via the emissive surface indicating the non-appearance conditions and associated values for the selected location.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the dashboard includes a list of non-appearance conditions and a separate value for each of the non-appearance conditions on the list indicating how the condition is experienced at the selected location.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the values are calculated for each of a plurality of different locations within the VW representation.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the values are calculated prior to selection of the location in the VW representation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the values are calculated after selection of the location in the VW representation.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein as the user selects different locations within the VW representation, the processor updates the values on the dashboard to reflect how conditions are experienced at the currently selected location.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance characteristics are different at different times and wherein the interface enables a user to select different times to generate different values for the conditions.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the interface enables a user to change the affordance instances within the VW representation and wherein, when the affordance set within the VW instance is changed, the processor recalculates the condition values.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein, as the processor calculates new condition values for a selected location, the dashboard is changed to reflect the new values.

10. The system of claim 1 further including a costs database storing costs associated with each affordance type, the processor further programmed to use the VW representation database and the costs database to calculate an estimated cost for an affordance set consistent with the VW representation and to present the estimated cost via the emissive surface.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the interface enables a user to modify the estimated cost and, upon modifying the estimated cost, the processor selects a different subset of affordance instances resulting in an estimated cost that is more similar to the modified cost.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance condition is audio related.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance condition is related to at least one privacy characteristic at the selected location.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the VW representation is presented as a 3D view of the space layout.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the interface enables the user to move within the VW representation to different locations and wherein the user selects a location by changing the user's point of view within the VW representation.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance characteristics of the affordances are related to sound absorbing capabilities of the affordances.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance characteristics of the affordances are related to sight blocking capabilities of the affordances.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-appearance characteristics of the affordances are related to light blocking capabilities of the affordances.

19. A system for designing a space affordance layout to meet user preferences, the system comprising: a virtual affordance database storing a separate affordance dataset for each of a plurality of different affordance types that can be added to a virtual world (VR) representation of a space layout, each affordance dataset including at least a subset of non-appearance characteristics that affect how non-appearance conditions within the space layout are experienced at different locations within the a VW representation of the space layout; a VW representation database specifying locations of instances of at least a subset of the virtual affordance types from the virtual affordance database within the VW representation; an interface including at least one emissive surface and an input device; at least a first system processor linked to the emissive surface, the databases and the input device, the processor programmed to perform the steps of: (i) using the non-appearance characteristics of the affordance instances and locations of those instances within the VW representation to assess values for at least a subset of the non-appearance conditions at a plurality of locations within the VW representation, wherein each value represents how an associated non-appearance condition would be experienced at an associated one of the VW representation locations; (ii) presenting a VW representation of the space layout on the emissive surface including representations of each of the affordance instances within the VW representation; (iii) receiving input via the input device selecting a specific one of the non-appearance conditions; and (iv) graphically indicating areas within the VW representation that have common values for the selected one of the non-appearance conditions on the VW representation.

20. A system for designing a space affordance layout to meet user preferences, the system comprising: a virtual affordance database storing a separate affordance dataset for each of a plurality of different affordance types that can be added to a virtual world (VR) representation of a space layout, each affordance dataset including at least a subset of non-appearance characteristics that affect how non-appearance conditions within the space layout are experienced at different locations within the a VW representation of the space layout; a VW representation database specifying locations of instances of at least a subset of the virtual affordance types from the virtual affordance database within the VW representation; an interface including at least one emissive surface and an input device; at least a first system processor linked to the emissive surface, the databases and the input device, the processor programmed to perform the steps of: (i) using the non-appearance characteristics of the affordance instances and locations of those instances within the VW representation to assess values for at least a subset of the non-appearance conditions at a plurality of locations within the VW representation, wherein each value represents how an associated non-appearance condition would be experienced at an associated one of the VW representation locations; (ii) presenting a VW representation of the space layout on the emissive surface including representations of each of the affordance instances within the VW representation; (iii) receiving input via the input device selecting a specific one of the non-appearance conditions and a specific value for the specific one of the non-appearance conditions; and (iv) graphically indicating areas within the VW representation that have the selected value for the selected one of the non-appearance conditions on the VW representation.